OCU MT Dance

<p>When I went on OCU’s MT website regarding their curriculum, it didn’t mention what specific types of dance MT students took. It just said like Dance Technique or something like that. Do OCU MT students take Ballet, Jazz, and Tap, or do they just take Ballet and Jazz?</p>

<p>My D has taken ballet, jazz and tap. She had not tapped much before she got there, but now that is her favorite! I think you can choose which types of dance you want to take. She seems to have taken more tap and jazz than ballet, but it could depend on the rest of her schedule. The School of Dance is terrific in its own right and all MTers take dance in that department.</p>

<p>The dance School does a pretty extensive leveling process during the first couple of weeks in each term. Even non Dance majors can get into the classes with majors if they level out. My MT S loves the dance program</p>

<p>My daughter who is in the MT Class of 2010 has taken ballet, tap and jazz. This year, however, because they have some many more MT, VP and dance students, there weren't enough spots in her jazz level for MT majors. She was going to take tap but they opened a section of Theater Dance that fit nicely in her schedule so she is taking that instead. I do hope they add some more classes so there is enough room for all the performance majors.</p>

<p>Have any of the students or parents of students known anyone that majored in MT but minored in either dance or vocal performance? How long did it take? Was it difficult?</p>

<p>I know of some who have double majored in MT and VP. If you plan that from the beginning :) , it can be doable in 4 years, I think. It helps if you have some gen ed credits going in (from AP or dual-credit courses). I know of one who has done it in 9 semesters, and my D, if she decided to, could get the VP degree also by adding 1 semester. If she had planned to double major from the beginning, she could have done it in 4 years because she had quite a lot of gen ed credits from high school. I don't know about dance. Not many of those classes overlap, so it might take longer.</p>

<p>I'm sure it CAN be done but it wouldn't be easy. having gen ed credits or taking them over some summers would almost be a must. If you look at the standard MT curriculum it assumes that most of your semesters are at or above the 16 hour typical max. The good news is that with the dance leveling they do, if you can cut it in the matriculating classes for dance they put you in the matriculating classes for dance.</p>

<p>I'm about 90% sure that there is no dance minor at OCU.</p>

<p>But you can definitely minor in tech theatre and still graduate in 4 years, if that's of any interest.</p>

<p>I'm a dance performance major at OCU. I second what be<em>a</em>star said. There is no dance minor offered at OCU, but vocal performance, musical theatre and theatre majors can take Ballet, Jazz, Tap, Rhythm Tap and Theatre Dance after completing the dance leveling process. These are the same classes dance majors take. </p>

<p>Also, additional dance classes (jazz, tap, ballet, hip hop, yoga) are offered through the community dance center which is operated by the Ann Lacy School of American Dance and Arts Management at OCU.</p>

<p>is it possible to major in dance and minor in music theater?</p>

<p>OCU does not offer a musical theatre minor, although the dance program does focus on jazz, tap and ballet as applied to a career in musical theare. As a dance performance major you are required to take either voice class or private voice lessons and either 2 semesters of acting in the Theatre school or 3 semesters through the Opera/Music Theatre program.
The acting offered through the theatre school is mostly Stanislavski based while the acting offered though OMT has been more Meisner based in the past but may be making a shift into a more integrated direction. </p>

<p>Although there is no official musical theatre minor, a dance major can definitely take upper division theatre courses (Improvisation, Chekov, Shakespeare, Voice, Movement) or music courses (music theory, music theatre workshop, musical theatre literature).</p>

<p>The Dance Performance major is an 84 credit hour degree so it will probably be necessary to go over the usual 16 hours per semester. I've taken voice and acting every semester and in some cases had to go over on hours. But it is worth it to me to have intensive dance training accompanied by acting and voice every semester.
So to answer your question, while there is no official MT minor, one can definitely construct a program for themselves. One of the great things about OCU is that it is very possible to tailor your college experience to what you want to focus on.
I hope this helps!</p>